Unique Services

Collaborative Psychotherapy also focuses on the needs of:

Healthy Dating and New Couple Relationships
Job Hunters & Career Changers
Writers & Artists
Young Adults & Students

Healthy Dating and New Couple Relationships

Dating Training to Teach Successful Dating

Dating training helps you take your needs for a partner seriously. It helps you to successfully use your intelligence and analytical skills to distill whether or not the person before you "has what it takes" to be a good partner of yours. It's important to make informed judgments in the dating process and it sure beats the vitriol of many divorces.

We promote the idea of using dating as an opportunity for self-evaluation and self-learning.

When you are dating, you are, hopefully, more open to change. It is an excellent time to refute prior training, understand personal and cultural myths and negative connotations and beliefs about dating, love, partnership, the self and more that affect the success of your love life. It is an ideal time to gain new experiences that open doors to better relationships.

Pre-Marital Counseling for Couples

Pre-Marital Counseling for couples brings a strong foundation to a new relationship. Build the communication and relationship skills you'll need to go through life together as a cooperative team who can handle stress, issues, and change in a united way.

"It has been such a relief to be introduced to a way of seeing my life from a kinder point of view and also in a more realistic and accepting way.

"The collaboration with Marcia is very important to me. Through my work with her I am learning to apply a better perspective to my work, as well as with peers, colleagues, my partner, and my family."

—A single woman in her 30's

Career Counseling & Psychotherapy for Job Hunters & Career Changers

Searching for a job or changing a career can be one of the loneliest, most anxiety-provoking challenges you can face. The loss or lack of a job brings on concerns about financial security, loss of colleagues, lagging behind in your field, and more. Unfortunately, job-seeking or career-changing often brings with it much self-recrimination. In such a state of mind, it is much harder to connect with friends and colleagues to maintain and develop a network or to present yourself well to employers.

We offer job hunt training and career counseling to help you locate a new position. In this work, we teach you the nuts and bolts of job searching, such as resume development and networking skills. Depending on your needs, we also combine these services with therapy work to help you manage the difficult feelings around job loss and job searching, so that you are emotionally prepared, come across at your best, and land the job you are seeking—more quickly and with less stress.

Learn about the Job Hunters Group.

"Working with you has made it possible for me to be much more savvy about workplace dynamics. Thanks for all your help."

—A program director in her 30's

Writers & Artists

It is a myth that writers and artists must suffer great pain and deprivation to create their work. We love helping creative people find healthy ways to make their art, earn a living, establish fulfilling relationships, and build solid self esteem.

We love to help writers and artists be happy and productive. The starving artist syndrome isn't a requirement for doing good work. Neither are depression or anxiety. They more often interfere. Through our therapy work, we assist visual writers, visual artists, musicians, dancers, and others to grow as people and as artists.

Becoming an artist or writer is not easy. Becoming a successful artist or writer takes more than sheer creativity and technique. Among other challenges, you need to learn how to:

Access your creativity
Persevere in your work
Dedicate sufficient time to create your art
Promote your work
Handle the important relationships in your life
Keep money coming in
Develop a solid sense of self worth

We have a special interest and many years experience helping writers and artists flower in these and other areas. We offer individual counseling as well as groups, workshops, and seminars to help writers and artists meet their special challenges, needs, and interests. Contact us to explore how we can help you.

Learn about The Successful Muse, new programs that provide personal, professional, and creative development for writers and artists in all stages of their careers and in all genres.

Note: In order to respond to the needs and interests of artists working in other media, The Writing Practice has become The Successful Muse.

"The idea that we are 'determined'—that we are made up of multiple sides, both neurotic and healthy—is a construct that has allowed me to make positive change while also reflecting on and analyzing my feelings and behaviors—compassionately."

—An artist in her 30's

Young Adults & Students

We enjoy helping 20-40 year olds discover their potential, especially around self-esteem, careers, and love relationships. We help demystify the practical and psychological dimensions of achieving your goals. For example, we help you examine what is getting in the way of achieving your goals, such as passivity, pessimism, depression, and lack of money or family support.

"Thank you for all your support, creativity, and thoughtfulness on a consistent basis."

—Yoga instructor in her 20's